


No I in Team

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Circles [2]
Category: Smallville
Genre: 33.1, Big Dumb Alien, Domestic arguments, F/M, Friendship, Insecurities, Lex Luthor Being an Asshole, Second Chances, Teamwork, Worried Oliver Queen, fears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24165373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: When Chloe goes missing and Oliver later finds her in a dark alley, they embark on a venture to find out what happened to her.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Bart Allen, Oliver Queen & Bart Allen, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Series: Circles [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743880
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Star City's Golden Boy Off the Market?**

Oliver raised his eyebrows as he looked at the headline on the front page of Star City's _Daily News._ At least it was nicer than the headline from Star City's _Weekly_. He grimaced, recalling the look on Chloe's face when she'd read the words: **Queen's New Blond Bimbo: How Long Will She Last?.** After a not-so-friendly conversation with his lawyers, they'd printed a retraction _and_ an apology in a special edition released the next day. But the damage had already been done.

He was, however, surprised that none of the tabloid reporters had managed to get an actual decent shot of her face when they were together. The photos snapped had been blurry at best, and so far no one had actually figured out her identity. Which, he supposed, was good on one hand, because he doubted that she would very much appreciate having her name all over the news when she was the one _reporting_ the news.

He sighed softly and set the paper back down on the table, turning back to the coffee maker and pouring a cup, adding plenty of cream and sugar before carrying it back toward his bedroom. A smile tugged his mouth upwards as he looked down to where she lay curled up in his bed. She'd been asleep when he'd gotten home from patrolling last night and he was looking forward to her waking up so he could kiss her. They'd been missing each other a lot lately between his two jobs and hers and he was looking forward to spending the day with her, even if she had no idea what he had planned. He set the cup of coffee down on the nightstand beside her, then moved over to his side of the bed and laid down once more, yawning.

Chloe took a deep breath when she felt the bed dipping and shifted toward him, stretching a little and taking a deep breath, a smile appearing on her lips instantly once she smelled the coffee, "hmm," she murmured, opening her eyes and looking up at him.

He grinned down at her. "Morning, Gorgeous." He dipped his head, kissing her lightly on the mouth.

"Hi," she said quietly, turning toward him and kissing him once more.

He lifted a hand to her cheek, brushing his nose against hers and returning the kiss without hesitation. "Sleep good?"

"Really good," she said quietly, wrapping an arm around him and shifting closer, laying her head on his shoulder, "you?"

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, winding his arms around her, as well. "Good," he told her, rubbing her back.

Chloe sighed softly and closed her eyes again, "I guess I passed out last night, I don't really remember you getting here," she admitted quietly. She'd been working a lot recently since she had been the one to break the story about the city hall corruption and the story about the scandal with the mayor and underage girls a couple weeks ago so she'd been in high demand at the office and even though she'd had her earpiece on while he was out on patrol, she had ended up falling asleep.

"It's been a busy week," he pointed out gently. "You were tired."

She nodded slightly and lifted her head, looking up at him, "anymore front pages?"

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek. "One. The Daily News. But it was a lot more friendly than others."

"What did it say?" She asked, lifting her head and kissing his cheek before pushing herself to sit up and pulling her t-shirt down, well _his_ t-shirt that she was wearing, then reaching for the mug on her side of the bed.

"It was suggesting that I'm off the market--which is true--and wondering who'd managed to make such a thing happen." He widened his eyes with feigned innocence and winked at her, grinning a little.

"I wonder," she said, smirking shyly at him before sipping on her coffee and sighing softly, he made it _perfect_ every single time.

"I hear she's a beautiful blond who's quickly working her way to being the Register's star reporter. Do you have any comment on that, Miss Sullivan?" he teased lightly.

She sipped on her coffee once more before setting the mug on the bedside table again then grinned at him, kissing him softly again as she leaned closer, "no comments."

Oliver grinned, too. "Not even off the record?"

"I suppose off the record I can tell you that she is sticking around for the amazing coffee," she told him, brushing her nose against his.

His eyes widened. "Surely that's not the _only_ reason." He kissed the corner of her mouth.

"That's all the inside information I have for you at the moment," she grinned, turning her head and kissing him deeply for a moment then pulling back, "although, I suppose we should start spending the night at my place more often if we want to keep them from guessing who I am for a while longer."

Oliver searched her eyes. "I am sorry about all the publicity," he said softly, stroking her cheek. "I know it's uncomfortable and a lot of it's hurtful."

"I don't care about it enough for it to be hurtful," she said sincerely, "and I work on the other side, Oliver. I know you have no control over it and eventually, it will die down."

He kissed her softly. "As long as it doesn't scare you off."

"Really?" She smirked, pulling back to look at him, "after _everything_ you think some articles are going to scare me off?"

A smile tugged at his mouth and he shrugged a little. "The pen is mightier than the sword?"

"Uh huh," she told him, pulling away once more and picking up her mug again as she sat up, "I guess it's just a part of dating the most powerful man in the city. But they obviously don't know the _real_ you."

"No, they don't. They never will." He paused, watching her for a long moment as she sipped her coffee. "But you do." His voice grew softer.

Her chest felt warmer at that and she smiled, lowering her mug from her lips, "I'm still in the process of getting to know you," she corrected him. They had only really been officially dating for a couple of weeks and with both of them having busy lives, they couldn't spend that much time together.

"You know me better than anyone else," he pointed out, raising his eyebrows and sitting up beside her.

Chloe's expression softened at that and she pursed her lips together, watching him for a moment, "that doesn't mean I know everything there is to know about you."

"No, I suppose not." He looked over and met her eyes. "But you're off today, right?"

"It is Sunday," she nodded, sipping on her coffee once more and smiling softly at him, "you?"

Oliver smiled, nodding, as well. "And I have some plans for us, if you're up for it."

"Yeah?" She asked curiously, cocking her head and holding her mug between her hands over her lap as she watched him.

He rose to his feet. "Yep." He flashed her a charming grin and raised his eyebrows.

"What are we doing?" She asked, looking up at him as she sipped on her coffee once more.

"It's a surprise," he told her with a wink.

"A surprise?" She echoed, taking another long sip of coffee before finally getting up too.

Oliver nodded a little. "What do you say we take a nice hot shower and we can get going?"

Chloe set her mug back down and grinned softly, walking over to him, "so you're not going to tell me until after said nice hot shower?"

"Nope." He grinned back, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her closer, his eyes bright with amusement.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and shifted closer, "you're absolutely evil."

"We'll see if you still think so in a few minutes," he teased, picking her up without warning.

Chloe gasped and grinned, brushing her lips against his cheek, "I have no doubt I will."

"Then I guess I'll have to really work to make sure I change your mind." He pressed a kiss to the side of her neck and carried her into the bathroom, kicking the door shut behind them.

* * *

About two and half hours later, they were driving to an area of Star City Chloe hadn't been to yet, they had been driving for about twenty minutes already, going North of the city so she was pretty sure they were almost out of Star City already, which considering all the media attention he'd been getting lately, it was probably a good plan and she had no doubt he had taken that into consideration when he planned this, whatever it was.

"Still a long way to drive?" She asked once she had picked another radio station and settled back on her seat.

He chuckled softly. "Look at you, trying to figure out the mystery," he teased, glancing at her sideways.

"I am the reporter here, you know?" She teased, smirking up at him and cocking her head.

"Yes, you are," he agreed, grinning. "But I'm very good at averting the media."

"I'll just have to be better than you, then, won't I?" she tested, leaning in and kissing his cheek, "although to be honest, I have no clue where we are."

"Excellent." His smile brightened even more. "See? I'll just have to be giving you your own personal tour of the place."

"Uh huh, somehow, by the look on your face, I know this is more than a tour." She pointed out, arching her eyebrows and eying him.

"Maybe," he teased, focusing on the road ahead of them. Within a few moments a large mansion came into view. It sat on a hill far away from any other houses, sprawled out over several yards, the ocean background just visible from behind a line of a well-kept trees.

She held her breath at the view, definitely a part of the city she'd never been to, but it was absolutely stunning. She glanced at him and she could see something that looked like... pride, maybe? In his eyes, "this place is beautiful."

"It belonged to my parents," he told her softly.

Her chest tightened a little and she pursed her lips together, nodding slightly, "I kinda figured," she reached for his hand, "do you come here a lot?"

He parked the car in the driveway and slid his fingers through hers, shaking his head. "No," he admitted, glancing at her sideways. "Hardly ever." And he'd certainly never brought a woman there with him. But this was Chloe.

She looked at the mansion for a moment longer, the front garden was well kept and the house seemed to be in good shape too, "does it bother you?" She asked quietly, looking at him once more.

He considered that for a moment, then smiled faintly. "I think it'll always bother me a little," he told her, giving her hand a squeeze. "But I want you to see it."

"Oh." She considered that for a moment, her chest tightened, "are you sure? I don't want you to be upset."

"I'm not," he assured her, leaning over and kissing her cheek softly.

Chloe reached over and cupped his cheek, turning her face and kissing him.

He smiled against her mouth, brushing his nose over hers when the kiss ended. "Come on." He shut the car off and climbed out, moving around to the passenger side door and opening it for her, holding his hand out.

She took his hand and looked up at him. It was common knowledge about what had happened to his parents when he was just a little boy and she couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for him to grow up without any real support system and somehow, he had still managed to turn into an amazing man.

He met her eyes, smiling softly as he helped her out of the car. Then he slid his arm around her waist, leading her around to the trunk and opening it, retrieving the picnic basket he'd put there before she had woken up.

Her face brightened when she looked at the basket and she looked up at him, grinning softly, "we're having a picnic?" She asked, hugging him to her side and grinning softly.

Oliver grinned back at her. "We are," he confirmed, closing the trunk. "And then I'll give you a tour of the house."

"Sounds good," she smiled, squeezing his hand, "and if we're ever in Smallville, I'll show you the house I grew up in, it will take all of five seconds for me to give you a tour," she hadn't told him much about her family but now that he was bringing her to a place that meant to much to him, she felt like she should.

"What about Metropolis?" he asked curiously, leading her around to the back of the house, through the maze of stone gardening steps.

"I can show you the dorm?" She told him, "but the building dad and I lived when I was a kid had been turned into a Bank of America." She smiled a little, rubbing her fingers over his side as she looked around.

"Oh." He raised his eyebrows at that, glancing down at her. He smiled a little. "Progress, I guess." He squeezed her a little closer to him and led her down the path that led to the beach. "I used to come here when I was a kid."

"Did you spend a lot of time at the beach?" She asked, slowing down a little not to slip on the rocks in her flip-flops.

Oliver nodded a little. "Yeah. Getting into a lot of trouble, mostly." He smirked faintly. "I was really good at that."

She grinned softly at that and nodded, "something else we have in common," she teased, "what kind of trouble was your favorite?"

He grinned. "Usually the not-quite-legal kind." He paused. "I guess some things don't change."

"Well, the way I see it, any kind of illegal activity that is actually doing good rather than hurting yourself or others is not only welcome but encouraged." She told him, arching her eyebrows as she looked up at him.

His expression softened as he paused in his steps, gazing down at her. "And this is why you're an amazing woman," he told her.

She paused too when he did and looked up at him, smiling softly and leaning closer, brushing her nose against his, "I guess we just have a very similar point of view on certain things."

"Which makes us very lucky people, if you ask me." He lifted his hand to cup her cheek, kissing her softly.

She kissed him back and tightened her arm around him just a little, "I agree," she murmured against his lips.

When the kiss ended, he took her hand once more, leading her farther down the beach toward a small cove. He kicked his shoes off and set the picnic basket down, pulling out a small blanket and laying it atop the sand before sitting down on it and holding his hand out to her.

She kicked her flip-flops off then smiled at him, taking his hands and sitting down next to him, "thank you for setting this up," she said sincerely, it was by far the most thoughtful, romantic thing anyone had ever done for her.

He grinned at her as she sat down beside him and he lifted one of her hands to his lips, kissing her knuckles lightly. "Well, I thought maybe it was time to show off my culinary skills," he informed her, winking at her as he reached out and opened the picnic basket.

Chloe cocked her head and stared at him for a moment, "you cooked?"

"I did," he confirmed, nodding a little as he began to pull food out of the basket and set it on the blanket.

"What did you make?" She asked, looking at the basket curiously.

"Well. I thought about frying chicken, but I didn't think I could do that covertly, so I went with salsa dip." He grinned at her, pulling out a container of it, and setting out some chips, as well. "And sandwiches." He pulled out a bottle of champagne and two cups.

"It looks great," she grinned, looking down at the food, "and that sounds much better than fried chicken in the heat, although if you want to make that for me sometime, I won't say no."

Oliver smiled at that, barely able to hold himself back from telling her that he'd make just about anything for her if she asked. "I also have dessert but that's for later." He winked, pouring them each a glass of the bubbly.

"You're full of secrets today, aren't you?" She asked, cocking her head at him as she took one of the glasses from him.

"I prefer to call them happy surprises," he said, lifting his glass up a little in a silent toast.

She smirked and clicked her glass with his, sipping on it before arching her eyebrows at him, "like the happy surprise to find that both guys I'm interested in are actually one and the same?"

He cocked his head to the side this time. "You're never going to let that one go, are you?"

"I don't know about _never_ ," she grinned, leaning closer and kissing his cheek.

"Uh huh." He smiled and kissed her cheek in return, then stretched his legs out.

Chloe smiled softly at him and sipped on the champagne once more then reached for the chips and tried the salsa, arching her eyebrows at she did, "this is great, Ollie," she said, not realizing she had used the nickname she time and again wondered if he ever went by.

His eyes lit up at that. "Yeah?" He reached out and took one of them, as well.

"Yeah, it tastes really fresh," she grinned a little, "thanks for making it," she said sincerely once more, still not really over the fact that he had gone through all this trouble just to spend time with _her_.

"You're welcome," he said sincerely, his eyes bright as he gazed at her.

Chloe watched him for a moment then took a deep breath and leaned closer, cupping his cheek and kissing him deeply.

He was a little caught off guard by the gesture, but he lifted a hand to her cheek, as well, returning it without hesitation.

Even though she didn't want to, she pulled back and brushed her nose against his before pulling away completely. Not only were they in public, but they were over at his parents' place and probably the only place he actually had memories with them and she didn't want to do anything that might lead them to doing more than he was comfortable with.

Oliver gazed at her as she pulled away, a soft smile on his face. "Eat up. I have plans for us later." He winked at her.

"It better not include swimming considering I didn't bring a bathing suit," she told him, smiling at him and eating another chip.

"Who needs a bathing suit?" he asked innocently, grinning.

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip and grinned softly, "I suppose I could be talked into skinny dipping..." she told him quietly and sipped on the champagne again.

"Best girlfriend ever," he stated, popping a chip into his mouth.

She paused and smiled shyly at that, looking down then at him out of the corner of her eyes, "girlfriend, huh?"

He looked up at her. "Too high school?"

"I guess it's a start," she grinned softly, cheeks feeling warm as she sipped on her champagne once more, her heart beating faster even though she tried not to show the effect that had had on her.

Oliver smiled back at her, reaching out and tucking some hair behind her ear, wondering how he'd gotten so damn lucky.

Chloe leaned into his touch and smiled at him, wondering the exact same thing as she held his gaze. That made things a little more official between them, not that she had had any doubts that they were exclusive before, but it made her feel a little more... settled, like they were a team in every way they could be.


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe ran her fingers through her damp hair and tied the knot on her silk robe. Oliver had just nearly killed her in the shower and as much as she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and fall asleep, she was starving and they had just ordered incredibly greasy and amazing Chinese food from a place down the street. They normally didn't take very long to deliver since they were less than two buildings away, but she was having doubts she was going to remain awake for five or ten more minutes.

They had been spending the night together more often than not since late night and early morning was pretty much the only time they could see each other and since her suggestion and to keep the paparazzi away, he had been coming over to her place after work and then coming back once he was done with patrol too. Although she sincerely doubted he was actually going out to patrol tonight considering the amazing, mind-blowing, knee weakening sex they had just had.

She made her way over to the couch and sat down with a plop, looking up at him as he walked up into the living room, her eyes barely open anymore, but she could see he was only wearing a pair of gray sweat pants, his chest still glistering from the shower. Definitely no patrolling tonight. "I won't be able to walk for a week," she told him in a mutter, but smirked to let him know it wasn't a complaint.

He grinned at that, looking quite proud of himself as he made his way over to where she was sitting and kissing her thoroughly once more. "Me either," he agreed with a returned smirk.

She reached for his arm and tugged on it heavily, pulling him to her as she turned to lay on the couch, tugging so he'd lay down with her.

He laid down beside her, pinning her between his body and the back of the sofa, yawning sleepily and resting a hand at her waist. "You wore me out," he accused.

" _That_ was completely and one hundred percent your fault, Queen," she told him, wrapping her arm over his and resting her forehead against his cheek.

Amusement tugged at his mouth and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I suppose I'll take the blame. But really, it's _not_ my fault."

"You should take the blame since it's yours to take," she said softly, lifting her head and nibbling gently at his jaw, "which means you get to get up and get the food when it gets here." And they had ordered enough food to feed about ten people.

He chuckled. "Is that how this works?" He tickled her ribs lightly.

She squirmed and gasped, grinning, "you're making me move," she whined, reaching for his hand.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I could always make it up to you...again," he teased, sliding his fingers gently along her ribcage.

Chloe shivered and turned her head, lifting it and running her tongue over his jaw, "if I die, it will be all your fault."

He groaned softly. "I can't help it that you're so gorgeous that I can't keep my hands off of you," he murmured, sliding his hand a little higher and gently cupping her breast in his palm.

She shuddered a little and bit softly against his jaw, moving her hand to his bare chest, "you're absolutely insane," she murmured.

"Not insane," he countered, dipping his head and brushing his nose against hers. "Just in love."

She paused at that and held her breath, looking up at him and opening her eyes more, her heart skipping a beat as she stared at him.

But before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door.

He kissed the corner of her mouth softly. "I think you said I had to get the door. So I'll be right back with your food." He smiled and rolled off the couch, grabbing his wallet off her computer desk before making his way to the door and unlocking it. "You guys really _are_ fast," he commented, opening the door and pausing when he saw no food in the man's hands. "Though I think you forgot the food."

Clark's eyes widened and he stared at the man, "I-I, sorry." He muttered, awkwardly looking away. "I think I must have knocked at the wrong door."

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little at that, taking in the sight of the man's blue shirt and red jacket. "Depends. Who are you looking for?"

"Chloe Sullivan," he told him, pulling his phone from his pocket, "I'm sure I got the wrong address, I'm sorry I interrupted you."

When Chloe heard her name, she frowned and sat up, closing her robe tightly together before standing up.

He paused for a moment. "You're at the right place." He glanced back to where Chloe was standing. "There's someone here to see you."

"I heard," she frowned, pulling her robe down and suddenly wishing it was longer as she approached the door carefully, her eyes widening even more when she saw _who_ it was, " _Clark_?"

Clark's gaze darted over to her, and then back at Oliver, his eyes widening just a little. "Hey, Chlo."

She crossed her arms over her chest, trying her best to hide her breasts, not that her clothes were transparent or anything, but she felt naked without a bra around Clark, "what are you doing here?"

Oliver looked between them, raising his eyebrows again, and wondering who 'Clark' was, period.

"I needed to talk to you about some things," he said vaguely. "Should I...come back later?"

"...Yeah." She arched her eyebrows a little, "I'll call you tomorrow? Are you staying in town?"

He pursed his lips. "Yeah. You can just call my cell. If you still have the number." 

"Funny," she told him, "I have been calling it. I thought you might have changed it or that you forgot how to return calls," she said sharply. She'd been more than a little hurt by the complete lack of response from him, "also, how to reply to emails."

Oliver narrowed his eyes a little and turned to look at Clark, not liking the tension in his girlfriend's tone or posture.

"I'm sorry. I've been really busy," he said, looking down.

"I'm sure you have. So have I and I still managed to contact you, so now you can wait an extra day before we can talk."

Clark looked up once more, his jaw tightening. "Well, that's really mature."

"We're kind of busy right now," Oliver informed the other man, his tone sharp. "You'll have to wait for her call." 

"You can't just show up here, Clark, after all this time and expect me to be waiting for you," although she had no doubt that that was exactly what he had expected, "I have a life and like he said, we're busy."

His eyes narrowed at Oliver and then he looked at Chloe once more. "Fine." He turned and headed away without another word.

Her jaw clenched and she pulled at the door closing it with a bang then sighing deeply and rubbing her hand over her face.

Oliver watched her for a moment, worry in his eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," she breathed, swallowing hard then looking up at him, "sorry about that."

He shook his head a little. "You don't owe me an apology," he said honestly, stepping closer to her.

"I can't believe him." She muttered, walking past Oliver and making her way back to the couch, her legs trembling a little from the overuse earlier in the night.

He paused when she walked right past him, chewing the inside of his cheek as he turned to look at her. "Old friend from Kansas, I take it?"

"Yeah," she answered, looking down as she pulled her feet up on the couch, "best friend, or I guess I should add a former to that title now considering I heard from him once since I got here."

There was no mistaking the betrayal in her tone. Or on her face. "I see," he murmured, slowly moving toward the couch and sitting down on the edge of it beside her.

Chloe sighed softly and looked over at him, "sorry," she said again, wanting to choke Clark and feeling guilty that he had completely ruined her good mood in all of ten seconds.

"Chloe." His voice was quiet and he reached out and cupped her cheek in his hand. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

She held her breath and closed her eyes, nodding a little. Even though they had been seeing each other for weeks down, because they saw each other so little, when they did spend time together, they couldn't keep their hands off each other, and when they could, they usually talked about work or whatever new article came out about Oliver or Green Arrow stuff that she'd been helping him with.

She had barely even mentioned much about her life before Star City at all so far, and of course, that included Clark and everything that came with him.

"There's no pressure, but I can always listen," he murmured, kissing her temple softly. The knock at the door made him sigh, and he hoped this time it would just be their food.

Chloe sighed softly at the knock and leaned back against the couch again, closing her eyes and waiting, she knew it wasn't Clark. In fact, she would be surprised if he answered the phone at all when she called.

He gazed at her for a long moment before slowly rising to his feet and moving to get the door once more. He didn't know exactly what the deal was with Clark, or what happened between him and Chloe to upset her so much by just seeing the other man, but he wasn't sure he was going to find out anytime soon either.

* * *

The rest of the night had been mostly quiet. Chloe didn't really feel like talking about Clark or even trying to find out how to explain to Oliver why she was so upset, but thankfully, he didn't ask much and she was incredibly grateful for him being so understanding. Because they had both been exhausted, they ate and went to bed and despite her nerves, Chloe had managed to fall asleep fairly quickly.

Even though it was a Saturday, Oliver had had a meeting he had to go to, so when he left sometime around nine, she got up too. She had taken her time to call Clark. Her body was still sore, so she was moving slowly and Oliver had, as usual, made her an amazing breakfast, so she ate and checked on the news, her emails, and everything else she could do to procrastinate before she finally reached for her phone.

She scrolled down to his name and hit send, then waited but she was definitely not holding her breath because she was fairly sure he would not be picking up.

"Hello?" It was Lana's voice, not Clark's who greeted her on the other end of the line.

Chloe almost sighed. She did not want to talk to Lana right now, but it looked like she didn't have a choice, "Hey Lana," she greeted, "is Clark there?"

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "Hi, Chloe. No, Clark's not around," she answered in a way that people say when the person who doesn't want to talk on the phone with whoever called was standing right there.

She rolled her eyes at that, "Lana, I know he's standing right next to you. He just showed up here last night and I would _really_ prefer if he would be mature about this and not drag you into the middle of it like he's doing right now."

"Believe me, Chloe, I would prefer that, too," she responded, voice tight.

At that, Chloe actually sighed, at least she wasn't the only one. "Okay, well if he decides to do that, tell him I'm available until noon California time. I'll be with my boyfriend after that and I don't want him disturbing us like he did last night."

Lana paused. "Your boyfriend?" she echoed.

Her jaw clenched at the surprise in the other woman's voice but she forced herself to take a deep breath since Lana wasn't the issue. "Yes, my boyfriend. Clark met him last night."

"I see. He did mention you were with someone, but he didn't say he was your _boyfriend_." She stressed the word like she was pinning Clark with a glare.

"Yeah, I didn't exactly have a chance to introduce him and Oliver properly." She told Lana.

"Oliver. That's a nice name. I'll have to give you a call soon so you can tell me all about him." She actually sounded pleased.

"He's a nice guy," Chloe said, arching her eyebrows as she tried to make sense of Lana's tone, "but I will tell you about him when we talk next."

"Great! I can hardly wait. I'll let Clark know that you called."

"Thanks, Lana," she said, shrugging a little, "I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Chloe," she replied, cheerful as she hung up the phone.

Chloe sighed deeply and hung up too, picking up her coffee and going back to her desk, she doubted she would hear from Clark again anytime soon, but she found herself not really caring, not with everything that had happened before she left.

* * *

Oliver was shutting down his computer when he heard a soft knock on the office door. He didn't look up, simply called, "Come in," and rose to his feet.

She opened the door and arched her eyebrows a little as she walked into his office, "there wasn't anyone outside," Chloe told him. She hadn't really told Lana the truth earlier, she didn't have plans with Oliver at noon, but at six, but she had been wanting to see if Clark would come by after noon on purpose. He hadn't of course, he hadn't come by or called at all.

"Yeah, I sent my assistant home." He shrugged a little. "No reason she needed to be here on a Saturday." He gazed at her.

Chloe nodded slightly, her chest tight as she watched him closely, "are you done for the day?"

"I am. Are you still up for dinner?" he asked, searching her eyes.

"Yeah, if you still wanna go," she told him, holding his gaze. It was better than being at home, at least at dinner they'd have distractions.

Oliver nodded a little. "I do if you do." He took a step toward her. "Did you uh--did you get to talk to Clark?"

"No," she rolled her eyes, sighing, "I called but he had his girlfriend pick up and tell me he wasn't there."

"Well, that's really mature," he said, shaking his head.

"Yeah," she shrugged and smiled a little at him, "thanks for putting up with me last night. I'll just... not worry about it anymore, there is no point considering he obviously doesn't care enough to."

He took a couple more steps toward her, closing some of the distance between them. "He's an idiot," he told her quietly.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking up at him, "it doesn't really matter," not as much as it had in the past, anyway.

"It does if you're hurting because of it." His voice grew even softer and he reached out, cupping her cheek in his hand.

Chloe held her breath at that and smiled slightly, "we have a complicated history," she admitted, looking away then looking back at him, "but he doesn't affect me the way he used to anymore."

Oliver searched her eyes again, then leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Maybe you'll tell me about it sometime," he murmured.

She reached for his arm and squeezed it gently, taking a deep breath, it felt wrong to not tell him anything considering he was stuck kind of in the middle of it now, but there was a lot about her history with Clark that she couldn't say anything about, "I'd hate to bore you like that."

"Nothing about you bores me, Chloe," he told her. "I meant it weeks ago when I said I wanted to get to know you. I still mean it."

There was a lot about herself that _she_ didn't know, she wasn't sure how she would be able to help him with that but seeing Clark there the previous night and contrasting just how much better her life was now because of Star City and mostly thanks to Oliver, she felt like she had to at least try. "What do you want to know?" She asked quietly, turning her head up to look at him.

A soft smile touched his mouth. "Anything you're comfortable sharing. The other stuff I'll get out of you eventually," he teased.

Chloe smiled a little at that and cocked her head, kissing his cheek softly, "good luck with that," she teased back.

He grinned. "Oh, I have _ways_..."

She relaxed a little at that and lifted her arms to his neck as she stepped closer, this teasing, sexual banter was the usual for them, it was easy to deal with, comfortable and familiar. "I think I learned about all your tricks last night."

"Hah. Not even _close_ , Professor," he informed her, amused as he wound his arms around her waist. "I mean we haven't even explored the contents of your refrigerator, yet."

Chloe cocked her head, arching her eyebrows, "contents of my fridge, huh?"

"Mmhmm." He dipped his head so his mouth was close to her ear. "For instance, if you have any whipped cream or chocolate syrup," he murmured.

She shivered a little and grinned softly, "maybe we should skip dinner, go grocery shopping and home instead," she told him, she was mostly joking.

"I take it that means you don't have those things?" He raised his eyebrows. "We should also get some honey if you don't have _that_."

"I might have whipped cream," she told him, brushing her nose against his, "definitely do not have honey, is that your preference?"

"Well, it can be interesting," he told her, kissing the corner of her mouth. "But we're definitely not skipping dinner."

"We're not?" She asked, cocking her head and brushing her lips against his, "you're such a tease."

"See, half of the fun is the anticipation for what's to come," he murmured, kissing her lightly.

Chloe returned the kiss and took a deep breath, "I'm naturally curious and anxious, my anticipation builds at a much faster pace than normal people's."

"Then by the end of the night the pay-off will be that much sweeter," he promised, mischievously.

"I guess we'll see about that," she smirked, "but I guess we'll have to spend the night at your place and use your fridge instead."

Oliver grinned. "I can hardly wait."

"Ditto," she smirked more then pulled back, tugging on his hand and pulling him toward the elevator, "where do you wanna go for dinner?"

He followed her without hesitation. "How does Mexican sound?"

Chloe nodded a little and stepped into the elevator car, "I could use a margarita."

"Hmm. A lot of interesting things can be done with margaritas, too," he teased, winking at her as he pressed the button for the ground floor.

"Not in public," she pointed out arching her eyebrows and stepping closer then pressing her lips to his jaw.

He grinned at that, wrapping his arms around her and leaning into her kiss. "There is something to be said about the thrill of making love in a public place," he informed her, nipping lightly at her earlobe.

She shivered and closed her eyes, "I wouldn't know," she told him, wrapping her arms around him too.

"You will," he informed her, dipping his head to kiss her neck.

"How soon?" She asked, pulling him closer and pressing her body against his.

"Not tonight. I have other plans for us tonight. But soon." He rubbed his nose over hers.

"You're always making me wait," she sighed softly, then shifted and kissed him deeply but pulled back a moment later.

"I always make it worth it though, right?" He raised his eyebrows.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked up at him, "I could say you don't, just to give you a hard time, but I'm not that good a liar."

Oliver grinned at her, taking her hand and leading her off the elevator. "Come on. Margaritas await us."

She took his hand once more and followed him out of the elevator and toward the door, "if I get drunk and pass out on you, it will be entirely your fault for insisting on dinner."

He chuckled softly at that. "Duly noted." He pushed open the doors, freezing as several lights flashed in his eyes and he squinted, his jaw tightening as he saw all the camera people and reporters gathered outside.

Her eyes widened and she stilled too, looking from him to the blinding flashes before squinting and turning her head to his shoulder, shielding it.

He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to him as he pushed his way through the crowd, his good mood vaporized.

She kept her head down, letting her hair fall over it, knowing that that would be the 'money shot', since her identity was what they were interested in, her heart beating fast as she heard them screaming questions and then she heard someone yelling her name in surprise. She didn't look up but she was pretty sure the voice belonged to one of the freelance photographers that worked for the Register every now and then.

"Son of a bitch," Oliver muttered beneath his breath, leading her over to his car and quickly unlocking it. "Keep your head down." Not that it made much difference since obviously someone had found out her identity. "We'll be out of here in a second."

She kept her head down anyway as she ducked into the car, "I will," she assured him even as he closed the door.

He quickly made his way around to the driver's side and jammed the key in the ignition, turning it and revving the engine when several of the reporters moved toward his car. "Hold on," he told her, pressing his foot to the gas.

So much for a peaceful night alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe sighed as she hung up her phone and made her way from her bedroom back to the living room, where Oliver was. "Sorry," she told him, phone in hand, "he wouldn't stop talking." Her editor had been surprisingly nice about her not going into the paper today because the news about her being with Oliver had just broken. She knew she wasn't going to be able to take a lot of days off because she had so much work, but she had gone in the previous morning, just as the news hit the stands, and the front of the building had been swarmed with paparazzi.

She paused when she noticed Oliver had one of her photo albums in his hands and cocked her head, "I see you found blackmail material," she teased lightly. Oliver had been incredibly upset about the paparazzi and the articles that had come out with not so nice information about her and her reasons to be interested in him and although some of it hadn't been great to read, she had been trying her best not to take it personally and to make sure _he_ was doing okay.

Oliver glanced back at her, a small, faint smile on his face. "Are these all from high school?"

"Most of them," she said quietly, placing her phone over her desk as she walked up to him, "some from before, some from after." She had made a small album with her favorite pictures when she had moved to the dorm in Metropolis and had ended up bringing it over to California with her. With everything that was going on she'd been talking to her dad and cousin more, which made her a little nostalgic and homesick, so she ended up digging the album out.

He watched her for a moment, nodding and looking down at the album. It was something he'd never done before--kept any kind of photograph album. Mostly because he didn't tend to take pictures. It wasn't like he had a lot of friends or any family to take pictures _of_ anyway. "Who's this?" he asked, pointing to a brunette with her arm around Chloe's waist.

"My cousin, Lois," she told him, "the one who kept calling yesterday?" She pursed her lips together, it felt weird, now that she thought about it, that she hadn't told him about Lois after all this time. "We kinda grew up together, until I moved to Smallville anyway."

Oliver studied the picture of the two smiling young women. "You two look really happy," he said.

"That was my eighteenth birthday," she told him, trying not to wince as she remembered that day, or well, the outcome of it anyway, "before Lois dragged me to the surprise party she had planned."

"Sounds nice." He smiled a little, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Lois has a thing for surprise parties," she smirked at him, reaching for his arm and pulling him toward the couch, "she is already demanding to meet you."

"Should I be scared?" he asked, voice light and teasing as he let her lead him to the sofa.

"Definitely," she grinned a little crossing her legs over the couch and looking over at him.

He chuckled. "So tell me about her. Are you guys close?"

"Yeah," she told him, looking down at the picture, "we're kind of like sisters, I guess. Her mom passed away when she was little and her dad is a General so, he usually dropped her off with us whenever he could. Her little sister stayed with us some too when we were little but then the General sent Lucy to boarding school in Europe. She is even worse than we are on the troublemaker scale."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. "So all the women in your family are troublemakers? Suddenly I'm very concerned." He smirked.

"You should be," she told him, leaning closer and kissing his cheek, "but I told her how great you've been, so maybe when you meet Lois, she will go a little easier on you."

"As opposed to what, exactly?" he asked, sliding his arms around her waist and tugging her close.

"Anything is possible when it comes to her," she smirked, "she'd probably dare you to a drinking contest or something."

"Well, she'd have a tough competitor there." He smirked, as well.

Chloe winced and sighed, laying her head on his shoulder, "and I'd have to carry both of you home and hold your heads over the toilet all night, I don't like this plan."

Oliver laughed at that, rubbing her back. "I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually thrown up from drinking too much. Usually the worst I get is a headache the next day."

"Lois isn't usually that lucky," she told him, arching her eyebrows, "but I'll keep that in mind."

"If it's going to upset you, I'll politely turn down a drinking contest if she asks," he assured her.

She grinned a little and shook her head, looking up at him once more, "with Lois, that won't be an option, but like I said she might be behaving a little more when she does meet you."

He met her eyes, smiling softly and reaching up to tuck some hair behind her ear. "So when am I going to get to meet her?"

"Well, I guess whenever we make it to Kansas?" She shrugged a little, "I don't know, she might end up coming to visit." She shifted a little to look better at him.

"Do you miss her?" he asked, moving his thumb lightly along her cheek.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I mean we still email pretty often so that helps," she said quietly, watching him. She missed Lois and she missed her dad a lot, but they were about the only two people she actually did miss.

Oliver kissed her forehead then rested his head against hers. "You know, I have an office in Metropolis that I'm probably going to need to visit sometime in the next few weeks..."

Chloe cocked her head a little and smiled softly at him, "you don't have to do that just for me," she said sincerely, searching his eyes.

"I know. But I want to," he murmured.

"Are you really okay with meeting them?" She asked quietly, holding her breath. It wasn't like she had ever introduced her dad to a boyfriend before.

He smiled at that, nodding. "I'd really like to," he said sincerely. And the last thing he wanted to do was be the reason she wasn't seeing her family. He knew how important family was, and that if you actually had one, he firmly believed you should stay in touch.

Chloe held her breath for a moment then nodded slightly, "okay," she agreed finally, "we'll plan a trip and I guess just try our hardest not to run into Clark while we're there."

"If you'd feel better about it, I could fly your cousin _here_ to visit," he offered.

"As much as I love Lois, living with her in a one bedroom apartment would be a horrible idea, even if it's just for a few days," she told him, arching her eyebrows.

"Well, what if I rented a couple rooms at one of our hotels in the city?" He arched his eyebrows, as well.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at him for a moment then leaned in and kissed him softly as she cupped his cheek, her chest tight.

He kissed her back without hesitation, threading his hand through her hair.

She took a deep breath as she pulled back and looked up at him for a moment, "you're amazing," she said quietly. The way he just offered to do so much for her and it didn't look like it was a big deal or even a big effort for him, she had never had anyone do that for her before.

He smiled at her words, brushing his nose over hers. "The feeling is definitely mutual," he informed her.

Chloe kissed his cheek and took a deep, "let me ask her if she can travel or not, she just started a new job not too long ago."

He nodded. "Sure thing. It's an open-ended offer. So whenever works out for you guys will be fine." He kissed her temple.

"Thank you," she said sincerely and while she didn't plan on letting him pay for everything just because he could.

"You're welcome." He was quiet for a long moment. "Chloe, we should probably talk about those articles."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, shifting on the couch so they were facing each other a little more, "I know you're upset about it," she told him quietly, "but I know how the media works, Ollie and I know they are writing whatever they think will sell more papers."

"As long as it doesn't scare you off," he murmured, searching her eyes.

Her chest tightened a little at that and she shook her head, holding his gaze, "it won't," she whispered. She had been wondering if _she_ was going to end up scaring him off if she ever had to tell him the truth about herself. Assuming she would ever figure it out.

Oliver nodded a little and kissed her softly once more. "We could get out of here for a few days, you know. Just the two of us. Somewhere far away and...private."

Chloe paused and arched her eyebrows at him, "go where?"

"Anywhere," he told her. "Wherever you've always wanted to go." He smiled.

She smiled a little at him and shrugged a little, "I don't know, I don't think there are any places where the press won't follow," she said honestly.

"That's not _entirely_ true." He offered her a small, sardonic grin. "I mean, I was on a deserted island for two years completely by myself up until the day before I made it off. They didn't even _try_ to follow me there."

Chloe grinned softly at that and wrapped an arm around him, nodding a little, "okay, I see your point. But I doubt you wanna go back there."

"True. But I do have a few private places around the globe we could go to whenever you wanted if you need an escape." He kissed her neck lightly.

She shivered a little and took a deep breath, "well my editor knows I'm not going in for a few days," she said quietly, pulling back to look at him, "and I'd not be opposed to going somewhere with _you_."

"Oh, good." He kissed her there once more, enjoying the reaction she gave and sliding his hand up and down her spine lightly. "So is there any place you've always wanted to visit?"

"Why don't you pick?" She said quietly, shifting and sitting down across his lap, "you've been to a lot more places than I have and as long as we can just get away, I don't care where we go."

"Well...Italy's always nice. Ireland. Or we could stay in the U.S. and hit Hawaii or Florida." He gazed at her.

"Oh," she blinked, shaking her head a little, "we don't have to go that far, I didn't even think we were going to leave California," she admitted, it was easy to forget he was a billionaire sometimes and a trip to Europe wasn't a big deal for him.

A smile tugged at his mouth. "You realize I think you're adorable right now, right?" he teased, kissing the corner of her mouth.

She made a face but smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck, "some of us don't decide to go to Europe just because they're bored or they feel like it," she teased back.

"And that definitely makes you different from pretty much every other woman I've met," he said sincerely, searching her eyes. "You are one of a kind."

Chloe held her breath and smiled a little at him, brushing her nose against his and shrugging a little. He really had no idea how accurate that sentence was, and hopefully he would never have to find out.

* * *

Oliver finished suiting up in his Green Arrow uniform, then emerged into the living room once more. "Off to save the day. Well...night." He grinned a little as he spotted Chloe, sitting on the couch with her laptop.

She smiled up at him and arched her eyebrows, cocking her head, "hurry back, I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow morning so I expect to spend a lot of quality time with you tonight."

He grinned at that. "Oh, you can count on that, Gorgeous." He dipped his head and kissed her soundly.

Chloe kissed him back and grinned, reaching up and squeezing his arm, "stay safe, _Arrow_."

"I'll be back soon for that quality time." He winked and slid his glasses on before heading toward her balcony.

She let out her breath and watched him, grinning to herself and shaking her head as she turned her attention back to her computer, he was definitely the most amazing guy she'd ever met.

About an hour later, she was done answering her emails so she made her way into her room and started packing. She and Oliver had agreed to leave down the following day, so she wanted to get ready for it. She had just opened the suitcase and set it over her bed when she heard a knock on the door. Oliver didn't use the normal door and considering she didn't know anyone else in town, it could only be one person.

With a deep breath, she walked over to the door and with her jaw set, opened it, then stilled. She fully expected to find Clark there since she hadn't spoken with him yet, but this was definitely not Clark. "Oh, I think you have the wrong apartm--" she started then stopped when she realized that the tall, big guy in the suit wasn't alone. There were two others just by the elevator, dressed like him. Her stomach clenched and her eyes widened.

"Ms. Sullivan. Your presence is requested by an old friend," he informed her, taking a step forward.

She swallowed hard and pulled at the door, trying to close it, "you have the wrong person."

"Nice try." He quickly stopped her, then reached out, grabbing her by the arm.

"Don't damage her. He won't be happy," one of the others warned.

Her jaw clenched and she looked from the guy who was holding her to the other two, her heart racing, "who is it?" She asked sharply, glancing at the window, hoping to see Oliver there.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head about that," he told her with a smirk. "Just come along quietly."

"My boyfriend is in the shower," she lied, looking up at him, "he's going to come looking for me."

"Let's hope he doesn't. For his sake." He raised his eyebrows.

Her jaw tightened even more as she stared up at him, but didn't say anything else. She knew Oliver wasn't there, but she definitely didn't want them to go looking for him either.

"Now let's get going," he said, pulling her out the door.

Chloe let out a breath and went, between the three of them, she had no choice but to go. They were much bigger and she had no doubt they would knock her out the second she tried to scream. At least this way, she had a better chance of seeing where she was being taken to.

* * *

Oliver returned a couple of hours later, climbing onto the balcony and stepping inside. "It's actually kind of chilly out there," he said as he looked around. "Chloe?" When she didn't answer, he frowned a little and moved down the hall to see if she'd gone to bed. But the bed was empty, and so was the bathroom. He rubbed the back of his neck, pushing his hood back and off his head, and removing his glasses. He set them down on the bedside table and headed to the kitchen, thinking maybe she'd left him a note. But there was no note, and no sign of Chloe.

Until he spotted her cell phone on the sofa where she'd been sitting before he'd left.

His heart began to beat a little bit quicker and he quickly glanced toward the door, moving over to it and realizing it was open just a crack.

"What the hell?" he whispered, closing it and moving over to her phone, hesitating a moment. Maybe she'd gotten a call from Clark and had gone out to meet him. Or maybe she'd been called for a story and she'd left in a hurry, forgetting her phone and not closing the door.

No. He didn't think that was very likely. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a moment, reluctantly opening her phone but not seeing any missed calls or even any received calls since her editor had called earlier.

It didn't make any sense.

Chloe didn't strike him as the kind of person to just up and leave without letting someone know.

Something was wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

She'd been missing for nearly two days when he came across her body in a back alley near her apartment. He was in his uniform and his heart was pounding so hard in his chest he idly thought that it might actually explode. "Chloe?" he whispered, voice distorted as he slid his hand over to cup her cheek. 

She wasn't breathing. 

Her skin was cold to the touch.

He pressed two shaking fingers to her throat, but felt no pulse.

But his mind wouldn't allow him to accept that conclusion. She wasn't dead. She _couldn't_ be dead. 

He slid his arms around her, lifting her up and carrying her back toward her place. His car was there. He'd have to take her to the hospital. They could help her. 

* * *

She had no idea where she was, but it was moving, she was barely conscious and too tired to open her eyes, so she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly as her head fell to the side, her entire body was too heavy for her to move.

Oliver's foot was heavy on the gas pedal as he weaved in and out of Star City's night traffic, racing toward the hospital.

Chloe could hear the engine and in the back of her mind, she wondered where they were taking her, but most of her didn't care.

He slammed his palm against the car horn, honking as someone pulled out in front of him.

The jerking of the car combined with the honking were enough to make her open her eyes, with a gasp, she stared around for a moment before slowly pushing herself into a sitting position.

When he caught sight of her movement in the backseat of the car made him jump. "Gah!"

She gasped and ducked then paused and frowned a little when it dawned on her who is was that was driving the car, "Oliver?"

His eyes were wide and he quickly darted his gaze back to the road, swerving to avoid hitting another car and then pulling off to the side and slamming the car into the parked position. "Jesus. _Jesus_ ," he repeated, swiveling to stare at her.

Chloe had her hands wrapped tightly around the headrest for his seat as she stared at him, her eyes wide, "what the hell was _that_ for?"

"You weren't breathing," he whispered, his heart still pounding in his chest. "I thought..."

"...I wasn't?" She asked, looking down at herself, there didn't seem to have any blood anywhere so that was a good start, she was wearing pajamas, however, "where was I?"

"I found you in an alley," he whispered, still staring at her.

"An alley?" She echoed, shaking her head a little as she tried to remember.

"You've been missing for two days. I looked everywhere." He swallowed hard.

"Two days?" She echoed again then shook her head, pausing then pushing herself up and to the front seat and looking over at him, "how did you find me?"

"You weren't far from your apartment." He reached out, touching her cheek and inhaling slowly. Her skin was warmer than it had been just moments before.

"Some guys showed up," she said quietly, watching him as she tried to remember what had happened.

Oliver stared at her intently. "What guys?"

"Three guys, in suits," she told him, taking a deep breath then stilling, her eyes widening, "Lex." She whispered, barely realizing she had said it out loud.

His chest tightened. "Lex? As in Luthor?" He searched her eyes, still cupping her cheek in his hand. "He sent people after you?"

"I think so," she breathed, looking away from him, her stomach turning, "I can't remember everything, it's fuzzy."

"All right, we need to get you to the hospital and have you checked out by a doctor." Because he wasn't convinced that she was all right.

"No," she said instantly, sitting up, her eyes widening even more. There was no telling what a doctor could find. "I feel fine, just, take me home and I will look into it."

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Chloe, not twenty minutes ago you _weren't breathing_. You're not fine, even if you feel like you are." He shook his head.

"If I wasn't breathing, I'd be dead." She pointed out, her heart racing, "I just wanna find out who took me and figure out _why_ ," although she had a pretty good idea what the answer would be for both of those.

Oliver raked a hand through his hair, chewing the inside of his cheek for a moment. A billion unanswered questions were rolling through his mind. Why was Lex Luthor interested in Chloe? And why would he have done something to harm her?

"Come on," she told him, pursing her lips together, "you're probably exhausted," she added, she had no idea how long he'd looked for her for, but if the situation had been reversed, she knew she wouldn't have slept.

"Chloe, _I'm_ fine. You're the one I'm worried about." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Let's go to my place at least. It's more secure."

She looked at him for a moment then chewed on her bottom lip and nodded, "okay." She agreed finally. "Did they take anything? From my apartment?"

"I don't think so. Nothing seemed to be missing."

"My laptop?" She asked, holding her breath.

He raised his eyebrows a little. "Is right where it was."

She let out her breath and nodded a little, relaxing, "good, okay."

"You're sure you're all right?"

"Yeah," she told him, watching him closely, "I'm just glad you found me." And that somehow, she had made it out of Lex's labs alive again.

Oliver leaned in, kissing her softly on the mouth and then leaning his forehead against hers for a moment. "All right."

She kissed him back and cupped his cheek, "mind if we pick up food somewhere?" She asked, "I'm starving."

"Yeah, of course. What sounds good?" It was all so surreal. She'd been gone for thirty-six hours, and he'd found her in an alley, seemingly dead and now she was sitting up, apparently just fine and asking for _food_.

"Fast-food is fine," she told him, smiling a little, "we can stop by that McDonalds near you, unless you want something else. Did you eat?"

He shook his head wordlessly, gazing at her.

"We can order something then, I know you don't ever eat fast-food." She said quietly, "I'm _fine_ , Ollie."

"I love you," he whispered.

Chloe stilled at that, her stomach clenching for entirely different reasons now, she looked at him for a moment then pursed her lips together, "I love you too," she said almost too quietly for him to hear her.

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes for a moment. "All right. Let's get out of here." He turned so he was facing forward once more, shifting the car into gear.

She let out her breath and swallowed hard, shifting on her seat and tugging on the seatbelt, her heart racing all of the sudden.

* * *

A little over an hour later found them seated across from one another at his kitchen table, eating Chinese take-out. He watched her with worried eyes. She was still paler than usual, and he really wished she'd let him take her to the hospital. Or at least to call in a private doctor to come and check her out. "You wanna tell me what you can remember? Specifically?"

Chloe was currently devouring the box of chicken fried rice she had in front of herself, both because she was starving and because she was trying to avoid talking. When he asked so directly though, she took a deep breath and sipped on her water slowly before turning to look at him again, "I told you," she hadn't, not really, "those three guys picked me up, they blindfolded me when we got to the car and when they let me see again, we were in some lab." She said quietly, "I don't remember anything after that."

Oliver stared at her with wide eyes, setting his fork down on the table and leaning forward. "A _lab_?" he echoed.

Shit. "I... think it was a lab. It was a big building, it looked pretty generic..." She lied, arching her eyebrows. She didn't want to even consider telling him _why_ Lex had probably kidnapped her. Oliver didn't know about mutants, meteor freaks and aliens as far as she knew and she had no idea how he'd react if he found out _she_ was infected.

Regardless of him putting on a costume and jumping from building to building every night to save people, he was a fairly normal person and normal people didn't take that kind of thing well.

Oliver shook his head a little, sitting back in his chair. "Do you have any idea why Lex would be after you now?"

Chloe put her chopsticks down and took a deep breath as she leaned back against her chair, "I'm not the Luthor's favorite person in the world." She admitted.

He gazed at her. "I know about everything that happened with Lionel," he confessed. "But it seemed like Lex was helping you back then."

She blinked in surprise, but then she shouldn't have considering she knew he had looked her up when they met, "he was, during the trial," she agreed, "but things changed after that. We were never exactly BFFs, but... Lex knew I knew some things he wanted to know. He tried to blackmail me and I didn't give in to him, so he fired me from the Daily Planet." She admitted, looking down.

Oliver grimaced at that. He'd known she'd been fired, he just hadn't understood the reasons behind it. "His own little way of getting back at you for not giving him what he thought he was entitled to." He shook his head a little.

"Pretty much." She sighed softly, "I've known him for a long time, he knew how much the Planet meant to me, so he figured if he took that away, I'd come running and beg him for my job back and tell him whatever he wanted."

He snorted. "He should have known you'd have more integrity than that."

Chloe smiled a little at that then shook her head, "it worked on me when I was in high school, I guess he figured it was worth a shot," she admitted, looking down.

"We all make decisions in high school we regret later," he said quietly. He knew that better than most.

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, cocking her head as she looked at him, "I guess I thought I was done with the Luthors."

Oliver pursed his lips, watching her for a moment. "Chloe, I really think it's imperative that we call a doctor and make certain you're all right. God only knows what he might have done to you."

"I feel fine," she told him again, picking up her chopsticks once more and turning back to her food, "if I don't feel well, I will."

He sighed softly, looking down for a moment. "Well, he's not going to get away with it."

"What are you thinking of doing?" She asked, frowning at him.

He considered that for a moment. "I think I'm going to pay him a little visit when we're in Metropolis."

She sat up at that and stared at him. "I think that's a very bad idea," she said. 

"I don't mean as myself," he told her.

Chloe paused at that, her heart beating faster all of the sudden, "you want to go see him as Green Arrow? What for?"

"To send him a little warning not to send his henchmen into my city," he informed him, his eyes dark. "Scare him a little."

"No," she told him, shaking her head, "it's too dangerous. He knows you know me and he might even connect the dots, Oliver. It's better if you just stay out of it."

"I'm already in it," he argued, shaking his head, as well. "He _kidnapped_ you, Chloe. You were gone for nearly two days. We don't know what he did to you, or what he might be planning to do to you in the future. And you want me to just stand by and let him get by with it?"

"He doesn't _know_ Arrow is involved even if he knows Oliver Queen is," she pointed out, sitting up, "I've been dealing with the Luthors since I was fifteen, I can handle them."

Oliver stared at her. "Fine. Then I'll go as myself and warn him if he _ever_ touches my girlfriend again, it'll be the last thing he ever does."

"And what good will come out of that, Oliver?" She asked, shaking her head, "you think that will intimidate him somehow? This is _Lex Luthor_ , he's not going to stop until he gets what he wants."

"You might be surprised," he said, his jaw tightening. "In case you haven't noticed, I have a little bit of power and sway myself."

"And that's exactly why I want you to let _me_ deal with this and you can keep using that power and sway of yours to better causes instead of getting caught in the Luthor traps, Oliver." She said firmly.

He shook his head a little. "There's no law that says I can't do _both_."

"Yes, there _is_ because if Lex finds out who you are, he will be coming after _you_ next and you can't exactly help anyone if he has _you_ locked up somewhere!" She said, her voice raising a little as she stared at him. The last thing she wanted was to put Oliver in danger too. And if he was looking too closely into Lex, he might find out exactly why Lex had her in the first place.

"Let him _try_ ," he said dangerously, rising to his feet, no longer hungry.

Her eyes narrowed and she stared up at him, "so you're just going to completely ignore everything I'm saying to you and do whatever you feel like anyway?"

"I'm telling you that I'm _not_ afraid of Lex Luthor," he informed her.

"I never suggested you were!" She said, frustrated, "but I'm telling you I can deal with him myself and I don't want you getting involved in my mess."

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath to try and calm his own growing frustration. He wanted to shake her. "All right, let's both take a short time out from this discussion."

Chloe arched her eyebrows at him and turned back to her food silently, she wasn't changing her mind, but if he wasn't going to listen to her, she would have to make sure he _didn't_ have the opportunity to get involved.


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe had already made up her mind. She wasn't going to tell Oliver she was a meteor freak, it wasn't like she had any powers to show him to begin with and on top of him thinking she was completely crazy, he was probably going to break up with her anyway so she was just going to make things easier on both of them and leave.

She hadn't said anything else to him. There was no point. He did so much good, both as himself and as Green Arrow, she wasn't going to let him ruin his life by going after the Luthors for _her_. She would go take care of it, she was going to go see Lex herself and figure out what she could about what he knew about her ability. It was risky and she knew it, but she wanted answers.

So she waited until he got in the shower and hurried to his closet, she knew she had a change of clothes there and she needed to change out of her pajamas since she was going to have to walk home. She picked up a pair of jeans, a tank top and flips-flops and changed quickly then dashed for the door.

Hopefully she'd be far away enough for him to catch up with her once he was done showering.

She wasn't. He was just stepping out of the shower when he heard the front door close and his jaw tightened a little. Of course she would take off when he didn't back down on confronting the Luthors. She was clearly very good at making sure the people she was helping got what they needed--or what she thought they needed--regardless of what _her_ needs were. He raked a hand through his wet hair and quickly tugged on his pants with his wallet and license in case he wound up having to drive to catch up with her. Then he threw on a shirt and a pair of shoes and headed out the door, barely taking the time to lock up behind him.

She'd barely made it a block as he was stepping out of his building, catching sight of her heading in the direction of her place. 

Chloe wasn't running, but she was definitely walking pretty quickly, her apartment wasn't that far away but she didn't want to risk running and having to stop halfway because it wasn't like she worked out on a regular basis.

Oliver caught up with her in no time, his footsteps silent behind her. "So this is how we deal with disagreements now? You just take off without so much as a goodbye?"

Her jaw clenched when she heard his voice and so did her chest. Damn him for being so fast. She didn't want another argument but she wasn't backing down from this, even if she couldn't tell him why she was doing it, she had her reasons. "I'm not changing my mind, what's the point in arguing?"

"To work things out," he responded, stepping in front of her and shaking his head.

She stared up at him, keeping her expression as neutral as possible, "there is no working things out, Oliver. I'm not putting you in danger."

He gazed at her. "Come on. Let's go back and talk about this in private," he said quietly.

"No." She said stubbornly, looking up at him, wishing he wouldn't be so calm and so caring. "I'm going to Metropolis, I'm going to figure this out and when I get back, if--" she paused swallowing hard, "-- if you're interested then, we'll talk."

He shifted closer to her. "Okay, just because we're having a disagreement about how to deal with something doesn't mean it's over between us, and secondly...would you stop for just a minute and _think_ about what you're doing? You really think it's a great idea stepping on enemy territory completely _alone_?" He shook his head. "Because if his attitude when he showed up at the door a few weeks ago was anything to go by, the Red-Blue Blur isn't exactly interested in helping you." He raised his eyebrows a little.

Chloe shook her head, "I don't care if it's a good idea, I am _not_ putting you in danger over this, Oliver. And I don't expect him to come help--" she stilled, her eyes widening as she stared up at him, "you... knew?"

"It wasn't that hard to figure out," he told her, his voice quiet.

She took a deep breath and looked away, rubbing her hands over her face, that was a big surprise, but it didn't change anything, "it doesn't matter, I'm not counting on him for anything anymore."

"Fine," he said softly. "Don't count on him. You _can_ count on _me_. That's all I'm asking, Chloe. To let me help you." He turned suddenly, grabbing a young man's wrist in his hand and glaring at him.

Chloe felt the rush of wind that she associated with Clark's arrival, but stilled when she saw not Clark, but another familiar face standing there, his eyes wide.

"What the hell?" He asked, trying to free his hand.

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "I've been wondering how long it would take to catch you."

"Catch me for what?" He asked, frowning, "how the hell did you see me, dude?"

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth involuntarily. "I didn't. I _sensed_ your presence and took an intuitive leap. I know most people don't notice when they're getting their pockets picked, but let's just say I have good reflexes." He studied the young man for a moment. He couldn't have been more than seventeen or eighteen, tops.

"Bullshit, I'm the fastest man alive," he told him, still trying to free his wrist.

"Bart." Chloe said as she finally remembered her name and took a step forward, "You're Bart, right?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow and looked back at her, not letting go of him. "You know each other?"

"We met once," she told Oliver, stepping closer, "he was pick pocketing in Metropolis, Clark and his dad saw him."

Bart grinned immediately when he saw Chloe, "hey, gorgeous. You know I'm just hungry, right? No big deal, not hurting anyone..."

Oliver looked back at the young man. "Tell you what. You promise not to take off the second I let you go, and I'll buy you dinner."

Chloe arched her eyebrows at Bart then glanced at Oliver and back.

"Are you gonna call the cops on me?" Bart asked, looking at him and frowning.

"I don't think that's necessary, no." He met the young man's gaze. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yeah, okay," he sighed, looking over at Chloe again.

Nodding a little, Oliver released Bart's arm. "How long have you been in Star City, Bart? About six weeks?" he guessed, raising his eyebrows.

"Dunno, man." He said, twisting his wrist a little, "I'm never in the same place for long. Can we go get some pizza?"

He nodded a little, glancing back at Chloe hopefully. "What do you say?"

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, it didn't change her plans, but she supposed she could delay them for a little longer.

He offered her a tiny, grateful smile and looked back at Bart. "Pizza it is."

* * *

About forty-five minutes and almost two whole pizzas later, they were still at the pizza place not far from Oliver's, luckily the place was mostly empty and the employees didn't seem particularly interested in working so they managed to sit down by a pretty deserted section of the place, where they could talk with no curious ears around.

"So you've been stealing all these years?" She asked Bart in a whisper.

"Gotta eat, Gorgeous," he shrugged, "I worked at this taco place down in Texas for a while, but they accused me of eating all the food, and they were kinda right but with the way I eat? I couldn't afford enough food with what they were paying me, you know?" He said, picking up yet another slice of pizza.

There was a small frown on Oliver's face. "And you have to eat to keep up your metabolism with your ability, right?" he surmised, taking a drink of his ice water.

Chloe's eyes widened as she glanced over at Oliver, for the second time tonight, wondering how the hell he knew about _that_.

"Something like that," he told him, "it's kinda awesome but it kinda sucks too, pretty sure I could never get drunk if I tried," he grinned.

A grin touched his mouth at that and he shrugged. "Could come in handy sometime." He leaned forward a little, resting his arms on the table. "What if I said I had a proposition for you?"

Her eyes widened even more as she watched Oliver, not sure what to think of this entire situation.

Bart shrugged, "you're feeding me, dude, I'll listen."

He grinned a little more at that. He liked this kid. "I set you up in an apartment here in the city. Clothes, food, a car if you want one--though I kinda figure you probably don't actually need one, considering. And you come to work for me."

His eyes widened at that and he stared at him, "work for you doing what?"

Oliver paused at that and cast Chloe a sidelong glance, then looked back at him. "Officially? Running errands and things. Unofficially? Helping make sure the city is a safe place for everyone to live."

Chloe arched her eyebrows at Oliver, staring at him. It was a good idea, a really good idea, but he barely knew Bart.

"So... no weird stuff, right?" Bart asked, looking between the two of them.

His eyebrows furrowed a little at that. "Weird stuff?" he echoed.

"Yeah, you know..." he shrugged, picking up another slice of pizza.

Chloe took a deep breath, "pretty sure he's not interested in that, Bart."

Oliver glanced over at her and arched an eyebrow, glancing back at Bart. "Nothing you're not comfortable doing. You can refuse anything you don't want to do because it goes against who you are." He paused. "And some of the things might be dangerous."

"Man, I don't care about danger," he told him, "I move fast enough to get away from it," he grinned then shrugged, "but yeah, okay, sounds cool."

He smiled at Bart, his eyes bright. "Great."

"So you're sticking around?" She asked Bart.

"Yeah," he shrugged, "as long as I have food around, why not?" He told her, winking at her.

Oliver chuckled softly at that, glancing at Chloe once more, warmth in his expression.

Chloe held her breath and looked at Oliver for a moment then smiled softly and nodded a little. Of course he would go out of his way to help Bart, even though he'd been trying to steal from him.

He reached down and slid his fingers through hers under the table, giving her hand a squeeze.

She sighed softly and sat back against the booth, squeezing his hand back. It looked like she wasn't the only one who wasn't being honest with him about the whole mutants and meteor infected thing. He seemed to know a lot more than he had been letting on considering how well he was handling everything with Bart.

"So where am I moving to?" Bart asked before taking another bite of his pizza.

"Well, it's kinda late tonight to be apartment hunting. So you can either stay with me, or I'll put you up in a hotel of your choosing until we get you settled in a place more permanent."

He nodded a little and shrugged, "yeah, whichever is fine, I hid my backpack so I just gotta go grab that."

He smiled. "Great. We'll just wait here for you."

"Don't blink," Bart said, grinning as he disappeared then came right back, backpack on his shoulder.

He looked up at the kid in amusement, shaking his head. "All right. I'm officially jealous," he told the younger man, rising to his feet and holding his hand out to Chloe to help her up, as well.

"I can get to Japan in 4.7 seconds," he told them, starting out of the restaurant.

Chloe took Oliver's offered hand once more and stood up then frowned, "wait, Japan? What about the ocean?"

"Move fast enough, you don't sink." He grinned.

Oliver held onto her hand as he followed Bart toward the door. "Do you know how much money I could save if I could moved that fast?" He raised his eyebrows a little.

"But you don't _need_ to save money," Bart told him, "which is why I was stealing from you anyway," he said once they were outside, "I knew it wouldn't make a difference to you."

"The more money I save, the more people I can help," he told Bart, glancing over at him and shrugging a little.

"You help a lot of people as is," Chloe pointed out, looking up at Oliver and squeezing his hand.

"What did you mean with that anyway?" Bart asked, "keeping the people safe and stuff?"

He smiled softly at Chloe and then looked at Bart again. "I mean, helping me catch bad people. Muggers, car-jackers, robbers." He raised his eyebrows.

"Isn't that what that Green Arro--" He paused, turning to look at Oliver, "holy shit, you are him, aren't you?"

Oliver grinned at his shock. "Surprise?"

"Man, that's cool," he grinned, "but you're not a meta?" He frowned.

He shook his head. "No, just a regular guy," he informed Bart as they walked down the sidewalk together.

Chloe stared over at Oliver again. He just kept surprising her over and over tonight and while he usually did that anyway, this was beyond what she'd ever expect from him. She had no idea how he had found out about mutants, but now she couldn't wait to be alone with him again and ask him everything she wanted to.

Maybe she had been completely wrong about him after all.

Again.


	6. Chapter 6

Oliver unlocked the door to his penthouse, holding the door open for Chloe, who had thankfully come back with him after they'd set Bart up at a nice hotel a couple blocks away. She'd been quiet most of the evening. Very quiet. Which was a little unusual for Chloe. Although maybe he just didn't know her as well as he thought he did. He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, shutting the door behind them and raising his eyebrows a little. "Want something to drink?"

Chloe took a deep breath and stepped out of her flip-flops, looking over at him and shrugged a little, then nodded, "sure." She wasn't even sure if he was offering her alcohol, but she kind of wanted some of that before the conversation she was about to have with him.

"You've been quiet all night," he said softly, hanging his keys up and heading toward the kitchen.

"A lot of tonight was... unexpected to say the least," she said, wrapping her arms around herself but following him.

"Yeah, I didn't actually expect to catch him quite like that," he told her with a small smile.

"So you've known about him for a while?" She asked, leaning sideways against the counter and watching him closely as he moved around the kitchen.

"Sort of? I'd be hearing a lot of reports about pick-pockets and then I thought I saw someone the other night grab a wallet, but then he vanished." He shrugged a little. "I figured considering, it was probably all the same kid."

Chloe nodded a little and took a deep breath, not taking her eyes off him, "and you figured he was a mutant?"

He grimaced a little. "Meta," he told her, shaking his head. "He moved a little too quick to be an average crook."

She arched her eyebrows at him, "how long have you known people with powers exist?" She asked, shaking her head slightly, "have you met someone else who had them before?"

Oliver paused at that and turned around to look at her, raising his eyebrows, as well. "A few months now. And not until Clark showed up."

"How did you find out about them?" She asked directly.

"Well. From you," he told her, leaning back against the counter.

Chloe held her breath at that, her eyes widening, "from me?" She asked quietly, her heart suddenly beating faster, her stomach turning. He knew.

A faint smile touched his mouth. "Chloe, I did my homework when you first showed up, remember? I read all the articles you wrote for The Torch."

"Oh," she blinked a few times then frowned, " _oh_ , you did?" So maybe he didn't know, maybe he really had no idea that he was dating one of the very people she had written about for years. And then she paused completely and frowned more, "Wait a minute. You read the Torch and you don't think I'm insane?"

"You don't exactly strike me as someone who's insane, Chloe." He watched her for a moment. "And I've dealt with some strange things in my life. I like to keep an open mind."

"Probably not as strange as Smallville," she sighed softly, looking up at him.

"Maybe. Maybe not. I think it depends on your personal definition of strange." He pursed his lips, gazing at her.

"Meaning what, exactly?" She pushed, not taking her eyes off him.

"That apparently you're more weirded out by Smallville than I am?" He raised his eyebrows. "Which makes sense. It sounded like you went through the ringer a few times while you were there."

"I'm not freaked out by Smallville," she said firmly, she was more worried about what it had done to her, but that wasn't time for that yet. "but normal people usually are, so I'm trying to understand why _you_ are not."

Oliver watched her closely. "Like I said, I've dealt with some strange things before. It's not easy to rattle me."

"So you read everything I wrote, you know meteor freaks can go off at anytime, that many of them have killed people, usually more than one, and then you meet Bart and not only do you welcome him with open arms, but you tell him your secret," she summarized, her voice tight, " _why_?"

"Because I have a feeling about him," he said honestly. "He's a good kid. He just needs a little guidance."

Chloe took a deep breath and let it out, he was so _incredibly_ frustrating, "you're basing all of this on a _gut feeling_? Despite everything you _know_?"

He folded his arms across his chest, studying her. "What's this really about, Chloe? What's going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

Her jaw clenched and she took a deep breath then arched her eyebrows at him, "you offered me a drink."

"So you get to give me the third degree and I'm not allowed to turn the table and ask you a question. Got it." He turned away from her, moving to get two glasses down from the cabinet. "Ice or no?"

"Ice." She told him, "and I never said I wasn't going to answer your question, even though your answer is far from satisfying."

He filled her glass with ice and then poured tea into it, handing it to her. "And why is that? It's the truth."

Chloe rolled her eyes when he handed her tea but didn't say anything about it, so much for the small help the alcohol would offer, "because if that's how you judge everyone, you're going to end up in a lot of trouble."

A faint smile tugged at his mouth. "Well, it is my middle name."

She sighed at that and shook her head, sipping on her tea.

"Chloe, look at me." He raised his eyebrows.

Her chest tightened and she looked up at him, she hated that tone, the way he said her name. It got to her a lot more than she'd like to let it get to her.

"Seriously. What is it?" His voice was soft. "Talk to me."

She stared at him for a moment then with a deep breath, she looked away again and rubbed her hand over her face as she stepped away from him, "I have a pretty good idea why Lex kidnapped me."

Oliver felt his chest tighten a little at the expression on her face, at the fact that she moved farther away from him and he had a sudden suspicion that he knew where this was going. But he wasn't going to jump to any conclusions without waiting for her to finish. "Okay."

"I'm--" she swallowed hard, keeping her back to him, her eyes getting warm. No one knew about this except for Clark and considering what _he_ was, telling him had been easier. "I'm meteor infected."

He was quiet for a few seconds, then he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Okay."

Chloe gasped quietly, opening her eyes when she felt his arms around her all of the sudden, "okay?" she asked, her voice shaking a little as she looked down at his arms.

"Okay," he repeated, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Her face crumbled and she had to take a deep breath to try and keep some control over her emotions, "okay to what?"

"Thank you for telling me," he whispered, rubbing her arms gently as he pulled her closer back against him.

She sighed softly and leaned back against him slightly, "did you know?" She whispered.

"No, I didn't," he assured her softly. "But it doesn't change anything for me." His arms tightened around her just a little.

Chloe closed her eyes again, "I don't know what my power is supposed to be," she said quietly, her chest tight, "I don't know what I'll do, I don't know if I will hurt someone when I get it."

He turned her around in his arms, pulling her against him and burying one hand in her hair. "Listen to me," he murmured. "I know you. And if and when you do develop some kind of ability, we'll get through it together."

Her stomach was just as tight as her chest and when he turned her to face him, she took her time before opening her eyes to look at him, her own eyes were bright with tears and she had never felt so exposed before in her life, "why? Most of the meteor infected people they just-- they lose it, they go crazy and they end up killing the people closest to them or themselves," she whispered, "it's an unnatural mutation, it's not like meta-humans, our bodies, they're not ready for it."

He kept her close to him, gently stroking her hair as she spoke. "That's not going to happen to you, Chloe," he said softly.

"You don't know that," she said quietly, looking down, "you can't know that."

Oliver lifted a hand to her chin, gently making her look up at him once more. "How many of those meteor-infected individuals had an actual strong support system?"

She reluctantly looked back up at him, her eyes still wide with fear as she searched his eyes.

"You've got me. And I'm not going to turn my back on you or walk out on you." He held her gaze. "I _love_ you, Chloe. So we'll get through this together."

Her face crumbled once more and this time, she didn't manage to hold back her tears so she lifted her arms and finally wrapped them around him, holding on to him tightly as she hid her face against his chest.

He held her tightly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, shutting his eyes. "It's gonna be okay," he murmured.

She didn't say anything for a long time, just took deep breaths and tried to calm herself, when she finally felt a little more in control, she took a deep breath, "I still don't want you risking yourself with Lex..."

"And you think he was after you because you're meteor-infected?" he asked, pulling away to gaze at her.

"I know he was," she sighed, looking back at him, "he's kidnapped me before."

Oliver's eyes widened slightly at that. "What did he do to you?"

"He put a chip on me," she whispered, "so he could track me down whenever he needed more samples of my blood or whatever it is that he took from me while I was at the lab. I don't remember any of it."

"Jesus," he whispered, feeling his stomach tighten at her words.

"He was doing this to a lot of other people, meteor infected people from the Smallville area. I don't know what he did this time." She admitted then stilled and pulled away from him pulling at the tank top and looking down at her shoulder, feeling around it.

Oliver held his breath for a moment. "He's experimenting on people with abilities."

"Do you have an x-ray machine?" She asked, her eyes wide again as she looked up at him, "anywhere in one of your labs?"

He nodded slightly, moving toward the door. "Yeah, there's one not far from here." He'd used it a couple of times since becoming Green Arrow to make sure he hadn't broken any bones.

Chloe nodded, sliding her flip-flops back on and following him, she just needed to make sure. "Full body?" She asked.

"Yeah. I've used it a couple times myself," he admitted, grabbing his keys.

She let out her breath and stepped into the elevator with him, apparently owning your own labs was just as handy as being an alien, "if there is something, I'll need your help pulling it out." She said quietly, her jaw tightening.

Oliver's eyes widened at that and he turned his head to stare at her.

Chloe held his gaze, her stomach in knots, maybe this was too much to ask of him, but she needed to. "I can't let him track me down, if they find out I figure it out..." she trailed off nervously.

He forced himself to take a deep breath. "All right. If there's something there, we'll get it out." He just hoped to God there wasn't.

"It was here last time," she explained, running her fingers over the scar on her collarbone, "but I don't feel anything this time."

Oliver shifted closer to her, reaching out and gently moving his thumb over the tiny scar. He'd wondered on more than one occasion what had happened, but hadn't thought to ask. He met her eyes for a moment, then lowered his head, pressing his lips lightly against the small mark.

Chloe held her breath then let it out slowly as she lifted her hands to his arms, squeezing them gently. 

He lifted his head to gaze at her once more, lifting a hand to her cheek.

She held his gaze and leaned into his touch for a moment before leaning in and pressing her lips to his softly. Having him was unbelievably comforting and she was still freaked out but the thought of not dealing with this alone helped, not to mention the fact that he knew the truth and he wasn't running away from her. If she had ever had any doubt that he was the most amazing guy she'd ever met, she didn't now.

* * *

Just about an hour later, Chloe was clipping the x-rays to a light board, her heart was racing as she glanced at him before turning the lights on so they could look at the x-rays. She checked the one of her neck/collarbone first and sighed in relief when she saw nothing on it.

Oliver held his breath as he stared at the x-ray of her hipbone, swallowing hard and reaching out to point it out to her silently.

Her eyes widened when she looked at what he was pointing at and she held her breath, nodding slightly, "that's it." She said quietly, looking at him.

He chewed the inside of his cheek and looked back at her with worried eyes.

"It shouldn't be too deep," she said quietly, unzipping her jeans and feeling around her hip then stilling, "here," she whispered.

"All right." Oliver kissed her forehead softly, then moved away from her, looking for tools.

Chloe followed him, anxious to get it over with, she wouldn't have thought about it if she hadn't been talking to him and when she did, it would probably have been too late.

He found a scalpel and cleaned it with alcohol over a sink before guiding her over to the gurney. "Lie down," he murmured.

She nodded a little, climbing over it and laying down, holding her breath, "just do it," she told him.

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath, gently feeling the tiny bump with his fingers and then glancing up at her face before focusing intently and making an incision with steady hands.

She held her breath, closing her eyes as her toes and fingers curled, her body tensing as she did her best not to move.

Seconds later, he pulled the small chip from her side and stared down at it for a moment. "I got it," he told her.

Chloe let her breath out, opening her eyes and gasping a little as she looked at him, "that... wasn't as bad as last time." Apparently a cut was much better than burning a hole on her skin.

He set the chip down, moving over to get the bottle of alcohol once more. "I still need to clean it," he said softly. "So it doesn't get infected."

She nodded a little and shifted on the table, "it wasn't too deep though, right?"

"No, it wasn't," he assured her. "You should be all right."

"Thank you," she told him quietly.

He cleaned the wound gently and helped her to sit up. "I want you to move in with me." His voice was quiet.

Chloe sat up then paused, frowning at him for a moment, "what?" She asked, watching him closely. Sure, they did spend most nights together anyway but they had only been dating for about two months now.

He drew in a breath and then looked up at her, meeting her eyes. "I want you to move in with me. You can still keep your apartment if you want to, but I need to know that you're safe and okay. And my building's security is a lot better than yours."

"Oliver..." she said quietly, "are you sure? I mean, we haven't been seeing each other that long and I-- we can set up security at my place, I don't know."

"I'm sure," he said without hesitation, holding her gaze. "I know we haven't been seeing each other that long, but I know how I feel and I don't want to lose you."

Chloe watched him for a moment then looked down, sighing softly. She knew how she felt too, especially after tonight. Everything he had done for her, all the ways he had proven to her that he wouldn't be scared off easily, she couldn't say no. She didn't really want to because regardless of where they were, she did feel safer _with_ him. "Okay."

"Good," he whispered, reaching out and sliding his arms around her in a hug.

She wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly and kissing his cheek as she closed her eyes. "thank you."

"You don't have to thank me," he murmured. "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, kissing the corner of his mouth then sighing deeply, "and I do have to thank you for being so amazing."

He threaded his hand through her hair, resting his head against hers. "You seem to bring it out in me." His voice was light.

Chloe took a deep breath and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him closer and resting her forehead against his, "let's go home."


	7. Chapter 7

It took them a couple of days, but they made it to Metropolis. Chloe hadn't let her family know she was in town yet, this trip was far from the social trip they originally planned, this was business now, their kind of business anyway. They were breaking into a LuthorCorp facility, the same one she had broken into days before she decided to move to Star City, and nearly got herself killed in the process.

Of course she hadn't told Oliver that particular part since she knew he would say she shouldn't come in with him. But she had been inside already and they had planned this down to every detail and possibility, so she was a lot more confident about it. Besides, this time she wasn't alone.

"Okay," she whispered into the communicator, "should be straight down this hall, there is an archive room." And that had been where she'd been trying to get to last time too, to try and find the files Lex had on her, hopefully this time, they'd actually get out of there _with_ the files and the answers they were looking for.

He glanced at her sideways, raising his eyebrows a little. Since she didn't have an actual uniform, she was dressed all in black. "I'm impressed. Not many people can pull off black-on-black."

Chloe paused at that and glanced at him, "not many people can pull off green tights," she pointed out, smirking at him.

His eyes narrowed. "They're _not_ tights," he informed her, a hint of indignation in his voice, even through the distorter.

She cocked her head at his tone, looking at him for a moment and grinning, "focus, _Arrow_ ," She said, relaxing even as she continued down the hall. She didn't know what it was about him, but he always managed to get her to relax.

"They're not tights," he grumbled, walking side-by-side with her and pausing when he heard footsteps approaching from behind. "Go," he whispered, turning to face the guards.

Her eyes widened as she glanced at them, "are you sure?" She whispered, but then she glanced over her shoulder, the archive room was so close, she just took a deep breath, "be careful," she told him before rushing down the hallway. She didn't want to walk out of there empty-handed again.

Oliver made sure she was safely out of the way before kicking the guard's legs from out under him, wincing a little as the guy hit the ground hard. "Does he really pay you enough for this?" he asked them.

He groaned as he hit the ground, but another groan came from just around the corner, down a darkened hall with a low green glow coming from it.

Pausing, he glanced over his shoulder to make certain Chloe was safe, then headed around the corner, pausing when he spotted a faintly familiar red-and-blue clad figure on the ground, green rocks at his side.

Clark gasped and curled up some more, holding onto his stomach, he could hear someone else approaching but he couldn't lift his head.

His jaw tightened a little and his eyes zeroed in on the glowing green rocks. Interesting. He kicked them away with the toe of his boot, then stooped down to help the other man.

He gasped once more then opened his eyes, going from pale to his normal color in seconds as he stood up.

"Arrow!" Chloe called, shoving the files in the messenger bag she had brought with her for that very purpose then stilling when she not only Oliver, but Clark standing there.

He turned and headed for her instantly, leaving Clark's side. "Did you get them?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes," she told him quietly then turned to Clark, "what are you doing here?"

Clark shook his head, looking at the two of them in confusion, "what are _you_ doing here with _him_?" He frowned.

"Come on." He reached out for her hand, then turned to regard Clark. "We'll simple it down for you once we're out of here safely," he said none-too-kindly.

Chloe held on to Oliver's hand and arched an eyebrow at Clark but didn't say another word to him, Oliver was right, they needed to get out of there as soon as possible. "Let's go," she told him and started running toward the exit with him. Clark could take care of himself.

Oliver opened the door, wincing a little as loud alarms began to sound. He tugged her quickly toward his motorcycle and climbed aboard, revving the engine the second she had her arms wrapped around him.

She held on to him tightly, turning her head as Oliver pulled away from the entrance and watching as a red and blue blur came out of the building.

When they were a safe distance away, he stepped on the brakes when Clark suddenly appeared in front of his bike a few feet ahead. He killed the engine, but didn't move, his jaw tight.

Chloe's arms tightened as the bike jerked to a stop and her eyes widened when she saw her former best friend standing there, "what the hell is wrong with you?" She said almost instantly as she pushed herself off the bike, "you could have seriously injured both of us."

"I wouldn't have let that happen," he told her, his body tense.

Oliver climbed off the bike, as well, folding his arms across his chest. "Yeah, you're a fine bodyguard, aren't you?"

"You would have protected me like you protected me last time I broke into those labs, would you?" She said tightly.

"I told you to _wait_ for me!" he responded, shaking his head as he took a step toward her.

"And I _did_!" She said tightly, but loudly, "I waited and we set a time, then you didn't show up because you were too busy playing house with Lana and I was tired of waiting for you, Clark!"

"Is _that_ what this is about?" His eyebrows furrowed and he looked truly confused.

Oliver resisted the urge to smack himself in the head, his jaw tightening more. "You know what? I don't know what you were doing back there, and to be honest, I don't actually care. Just back the hell off and leave her alone."

"This is between Chloe and I," Clark told the hooded guy tightly.

"No, it's not," she told Clark, her jaw tight, "he's a part of my life now, and unlike you, he's there for me when I need him. Like tonight."

Oliver wasn't the least bit intimidated by Clark, though he wondered if he _should_ be. "Let's get out of here," he told Chloe quietly.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, looking up at Oliver and starting back toward the bike.

His eyes widened with shock and Clark shook her head, "Chloe," he frowned, "you can't just not talk to me."

He turned toward Clark once more, blocking his path. "Why not? Isn't that what you've been doing to _her_? Because she didn't just drop everything when you came knocking?"

"You ignored my calls for how many months?" Chloe demanded as she turned to face him again, "and then you just showed up on my doorstep, probably because you needed something. I'm not your priority Clark, I never have been. The difference is that now you're not mine either."

"Because of _him_?" There was a hint of disbelief in Clark's tone as he gestured toward Oliver.

Chloe smirked at that and rolled her eyes, "no, because I finally know better," she said, turning around again and lifting a hand to Oliver's arm, "let's go."

Oliver nodded a little, climbing onto his bike and smirking at Clark as he started the engine once more.

Even though Clark called her name once more, she climbed behind Oliver and wrapped her arms tightly around him again, glancing over at Clark once more before whispering, "go."

Nodding, he gunned the engine and drove them away.

She leaned her head against his back and sighed deeply, closing her eyes and not opening them again until she felt him pulling into the parking lot of the Clocktower, where they would be spending the night.

He shut off the bike and reached behind him, gently resting a hand on her knee and giving it a squeeze. "You all right?" His voice was quiet.

"Yeah," she breathed, tightening her arms around him for a moment before pulling back and sliding off the bike slowly, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Oliver assured her, also sliding off the bike and pushing his hood back and off his head.

"Where did you find him?" Chloe asked, looking up at him as they started toward the elevator. She felt oddly numb about the whole thing with Clark, she knew it was more than likely not going to stay that way.

"He was laying down in the corridor. A bunch of those green rocks were by him. I'm guessing that's his superhero weakness." It wasn't a question. He'd seen how quickly the other man had recovered once the stones were away from him.

"And you helped him," Chloe said, that wasn't a question either, "and he's still acting like that..."

"He was jealous." He pulled his glasses off and set them on his bike.

She smirked at that and shook her head, "Clark would never be jealous of me, Oliver."

"Of me," he responded, raising his eyebrows. "Because he sees me as what's standing in his way to _you_."

"I don't think he really cares," Chloe shrugged, "he might be pissed tonight, he'll have forgotten about it tomorrow."

"He's an idiot," Oliver said quietly, watching her. "And he's the one who's lost out. Not you." He took a step toward her, shaking his head a little. "You know that, right?"

She pursed her lips together and looked over at him, tried for a smile then shook her head a little, "I'm glad you think so."

"I know so." He moved closer to her, reaching out and touching her cheek when he was close enough. "Look at me," he whispered. "You're the most incredible woman I've ever met."

Chloe held her breath and looked up at him for a moment, "back at you."

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth involuntarily. "I'm the most incredible woman you've ever met?"

She couldn't help but grin softly at that, "if you were a woman, I wouldn't be nearly as interested in you as I am."

He winked at her, then ducked his head, kissing her on the mouth. "Come on, Gorgeous. Let's go upstairs and see what we've got."

With a deep breath, she reached for his hand and nodded a little, tugging him toward the elevator, "I found some disks, too."

Oliver slid his fingers through hers without hesitation, following her into the lift and pressing the button for the top floor.

She shifted around restlessly as they made their way to the top floor, her mind no longer on Clark as she pulled her hand from Oliver's and pulled the folder from her bag, more than a little anxious to see what was in it, and most of all, to see if it gave her any idea of what her power might be.

* * *

It took them almost an hour to separate all the files and the more Chloe read, the tighter her stomach felt. It seemed that a lot of their research on her was _inconclusive_. At least in the older files. The ones from a few nights ago were very vague, they had an abduction time for her and whatever it was that they did had apparently been conducted at a local, Star City lab, which Chloe wanted nothing more than to destroy.

"They have the research here, all my stats, but nothing about what I can do, except that I'm apparently 'valuable,' whatever that means." She sighed softly from her position on the floor, where she sat surrounded by papers, "did you find anything?"

Oliver looked up, his chest tight as he pursed his lips and held up a disc. "It looks like a DVD," he told her, raising his eyebrows.

"Oh," she blinked and stood up, taking the disc from him, "I forgot I had grabbed it," she told him, making a beeline to the TV set and sliding it into the DVD player.

He nodded a little, glancing down at the files he had gone through. None of it had been very informative, and there was a lot of scientific and medical jargon that he didn't understand. One of these days he was going to have to hire a doctor or scientist to work exclusively for his alternate identity for times like this.

She picked up the remote and turned the TV on then pressed play, glancing at Oliver then looked back at the TV, the images going from white to focusing on a doctor and then on the subject at the table and her stomach clenched when she realized that was her, machines hooked up to her as one of the doctors injected her with a bright green liquid and she knew instantly at least part of what was in it.

Oliver tensed immediately, rising to his feet as he stared at the screen, horror filling his expression.

Chloe swallowed hard as she watched the images in front of her, her body twitched and twisted for a long time then stilled once again, her eyes were open, but she was tied up and even though she was looking around, she had no memories of this at all.

His heart pounded heavily in his chest as he watched the TV screen, feeling sick. Lex Luthor was going to pay. And pay dearly.

And speaking of Lex Luthor, he walked into the room seconds later, well, more like he was carried into the room. Chloe's eyes widened as she watched them picking up her hand and placing it over Lex's stomach, within seconds, her body went limp and Lex straightened. She watched as he lifted his bloodied shirt and smoothed his hand over his stomach, which was covered in blood, but there was no injury anywhere.

"Holy shit," Oliver whispered, his eyes widening. He turned his head to look at Chloe.

Her own eyes widened and she swallowed hard, she saw as Lex waved his hand, seemingly telling them to get rid of her then turned to leave. Then watched as the doctor checked for her pulse and wrote something down on the notepad then left.

The scientists untied her from the table, one of them lifting her limp body into his arms and carrying her toward the door.

The footage went white for a moment then black again.

She took a deep breath and glanced over at him, her eyes wide, "I... guess that's when you found me."

"They just used you and dumped you off in an alley." He felt sick as he turned to look at her once more.

"They thought I was dead, Oliver," she whispered, pursing her lips together, "I don't think they would have released me otherwise."

He rubbed a hand over his face, closing his eyes for a moment. "Guess we know what your ability is now."

She swallowed hard and nodded a little, letting out her breath, "why did I die?"

He shook his head, opening his eyes once again. "I don't know. Maybe it drained you of your energy when you healed him."

Chloe nodded a little, pursing her lips together, "it looked like it," she whispered then cocked her head a little, "are you hurt anywhere?"

Oliver shook his head immediately. "No."

"I guess we wait until you are then..." she said quietly then frowned, undoing her pants and looking down at the bandage that was over the cut Oliver had made on her skin before reaching to remove it.

He held his breath at that, watching intently and moving closer to her in case she passed out or something.

She pulled on the bandage and her eyes widened, her skin was completely clear, no cut, not even a scar from it.

Oliver's eyes widened as well and he reached out, gently moving his finger over the healed skin. "Wow," he whispered, looking up to meet her eyes, amazed.

Chloe held her breath and looked at him then back down, "I... guess I heal myself too?"

"Apparently so," he murmured, still looking awed.

"But..." she said quietly, "I didn't look dead or anything, right?"

"No, not at all," he assured her, lifting his hand up to touch her cheek.

She swallowed hard once more then took a deep breath then let it out slowly, "okay, well, I guess at least I can't hurt you with it."

He stepped closer, wrapping his arms around her tightly. "Are you all right?" His voice was soft, filled with concern.

Chloe stilled for a moment then wrapped her arms back around him and nodded, looking up at him, "kinda relieved..." she admitted, searching his eyes, "are you?"

"I'm all right," he told her, gazing at her. His jaw tightened. "But Lex isn't going to be. He has to be stopped, Chloe."

The look on his face made her stomach clench, "I know he does, but we need to be careful, Oliver."

Oliver nodded a little. "I agree. And we will be, Chloe. I promise."

Her arms tightened around him and she took a deep breath then smiled a little, "at least if you ever get shot at again, you won't be in pain for long."

He stilled at that, his arms tight around her, as well. "Chloe." His voice was hushed.

She blinked, his reaction far from what she wanted it to be, she _had_ been trying to get him to relax, "what?"

"When you healed Lex, it literally _killed_ you," he said quietly.

"But I'm fine," she pointed out, arching her eyebrows, "it's like you said, it probably just used up some of my energy, I guess I needed to recharge."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Well, hopefully I'll never be shot again and we won't have to worry about it." He gazed at her.

Chloe nodded a little then took a deep breath again and cupped his cheek, "we should get some rest so we can figure this out tomorrow."

"Sounds like a good plan," he said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She closed her eyes then turned her head and kissed him on the lips softly, hugging him close. She may be feeling relieved, but he seemed even more freaked out than before.


	8. Chapter 8

"That's it. Everyone out," Oliver ordered over the comm device he wore. He finished placing the explosives and then jogged toward the nearest exit--at the end of a long corridor. His adrenaline was already pumping the way it always did when they were on one of these missions. A smirk tugged at his mouth. Granted, blowing up Lex's facilities and equipment didn't actually _harm_ Lex himself, and it hadn't really seemed to deter him from setting up more. But he knew it was a pain in the ass for the other man, especially when he had to keep giving out explanations to the media on why so many of his warehouses and factories were getting blown up.

It wasn't much, but he'd take it.

Sometimes it was all about the small victories a person could get.

He headed outside, his hood blowing off in the cool, windy Colorado night as he met up with the rest of his team.

Chloe was just a few steps ahead of him, her heart racing. Even though this wasn't the first facility they had found and were blowing up, this was the first time she was actually _there_ with them. It had taken a lot of training from Oliver and a lot of convincing so he'd let her come along, but it had been incredible. Helping take out the guards then breaking out the patients and seeing as Bart ran them all to the nearest hospital. It was exhilarating.

"Alright, everyone is safe at the hospital," Bart announced, "where are the fireworks?"

"Fireworks?" AC echoed, catching up with them and looking confused. 

Oliver smirked a little, reaching out and taking Chloe's hand just as the loud explosion rocked the building behind them.

She squeezed Oliver's hand and glanced over her shoulder then to the other tall blond on her opposite side, "you'll get used to them," she promised AC as he ducked, "not bad for a first mission." 

"Whoa," he said, his eyes widening as he turned around to look, walking backwards and watching as the building went up in flames. " _Awesome_." He grinned.

She grinned too and turned back to Oliver, "one less," she told him, her eyes bright. After everything Lex had done to so many people in the past, knowing that they were at least setting up obstacles on his way felt amazing, like the beginning of pay back.

Oliver smiled at her, letting go of her hand and sliding his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. "How's it feel to be out here with us, Watchtower?"

She wrapped an arm around him and grinned up at him, tiptoeing to step closer, "I think I'm hooked."

"Me too," AC said, still watching the fire burning.

Oliver dipped his head and kissed her mouth in a soft but passionate kiss, brushing his nose over hers.

She kissed him back for a moment then opened her eyes again, smiling up at him then whispering, "thank you."

Bart glanced at the two of them then made a face and turned to AC, "man, we need more chicks in this team."

AC smirked at Bart, nodding his agreement. "We'll have to get to work recruiting." His eyes were lit with excitement.

"I say we hit the beach tomorrow morning and work on that," he grinned.

"Hell yes," he agreed without hesitation. He glanced over at Chloe and Oliver. "What do you say? Up for a little surf and sand action?" He raised his eyebrows.

Oliver smiled at Chloe, raising his own eyebrows at her.

She kept her arm around Ollie as she turned to look at the boys and grinned, "I think it sounds like a plan, we should celebrate while we have time."

"Awesome, at least there will be _one_ hot girl at the beach," Bart teased with a wink.

He kissed Chloe's temple and glanced at Bart. "Just don't get any ideas, Impulse." He smirked.

"I'll try," Bart smirked, "alright, who wants a ride first?" He offered.

"I'll go," AC told him and the two disappeared a second later.

Chloe shook her head and looked up at Ollie again, "I guess we can take the morning off, then Arrow? Before we head over to our next target," she said quietly, wrapping her other arm around him too and moving to stand directly in front of him.

Oliver nodded at that, reaching up to cup her cheek in his hand. "And the rest of the night, of course," he murmured, leaning in and brushing his lips lightly against her ear.

"With all this adrenaline," she told him, shivering as she turned her head toward him and brushed her lips against his, "not taking the night off isn't an option."

"I very much agree," he informed her, returning the kiss without hesitation as he shifted closer to her.

Chloe didn't pull back until she felt the wind that indicated Bart's return.

"At least you had the decency to keep your clothes on," Bart told them, "come on, 'Licious, you're next."

Oliver smirked at Bart, raising his eyebrows. "Keep it up and see if I feed you unlimited pizza after the next mission."

Chloe reluctantly let go of Oliver and turned to face Bart, "alright, Impulse, lets go before you lose your food privileges."

He grinned at her, then picked her up and the two of them vanished, leaving Oliver standing there, shaking his head in amusement. 

He could hardly wait to get home.

~The End~


End file.
